Our Team
Mentors
| Riya Abraham | Adam Alexander | Maria Barbosa | Ohi Akhigbe |
| Laila Chen | Justin Chiles | Stephanie Essama | Piper Evans |
| Caroline Ferris | Renee Frantz | Alex Friedman | Bill Gitterman |
| Alex Gottlemoller | Joe Green | Hannah Hale | Deidre Honig |
| Hayden Hudson | Adrienne Huneke | Art Janik | Chase Keane |
| Jordan Kienzle | Kathryn Kerner | Slava Kremerman | Jayeeta Kundu |
| Jennifer Mack | Luke Marker | Christopher Matz | Simeon McMillian |
| Charlie Pollak | Luke Redfern | Kristen Siebert | Bronson Smith |
| Michael Stehle | Suzelle Tempero | Susie Tovar | Pete Vitale |
| Kathleen Wark | Laura Weiner | Mike Wu |
Board of Directors
Lisa Souter – Chairman
Lisa joined Minds Matter in 1998 as a mentor/team leader in New York. She now serves as the Chairman of the Chicago chapter. Her strong belief in the mission of Minds Matter prompted her to co-found the Boston and Chicago chapters. Lisa received her BS/BA from Georgetown University and MBA from Harvard University.
Rob Arditi – Director
Rob has been involved with Minds Matter since 2006 when he helped start Minds Matter of Chicago. He also served on the Minds Matter National Executive Committee from 2007-2009. Rob is currently a Vice President at Norwest, a $3.7 billion multi-stage investment firm. He focuses on technology, technology enabled services and consumer investments.
Calvin Hui – Co-President and Board Vice-Chair
Rhonda Bell – Director
Rhonda has 12 years experience in urban education. She manages the Summer Quest program for Chicago Public Schools. Summer Quest provides pre-college counseling and need-based financial support to low income high school students. Prior to joining Chicago Public Schools, Rhonda managed the SOAL program at Providence-St. Mel School. Rhonda has a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin.
P. Barton DeLacy – Treasurer, Director
Barton is Managing Director and National Practice Leader for Corporate Valuation Consulting at Cushman & Wakefield, New York based international real estate services firm. DeLacy comes to Chicago from Portland, OR, where he was active on community and non-profit boards. He continues to serve as Trustee on the Board of the Abbey Foundation of Mt. Angel, OR. Aside from holding the professional appraisal designation, MAI, he has been elected to the Counselors of Real Estate and earned a Masters in Urban Planning. Barton and his wife Mary Mike have four grown children.
Michael Recht – Director
Michael is a Co-Founder of the chapter and a previous Director of Mentees. During his time with Minds Matter, he has been involved with student recruiting, curriculum development and managing relationships with college summer programs. Michael attended Williams College and received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2010, and is now a Senior Associate at Apax Partners.
Tom Siebert – Director
Randy Wagner – Director
Randy Wagner joined the board of Minds Matter to make a contribution at the end of 2008. Her focus is optimizing our communication, leveraging her marketing experience as former Chief Marketing Officer for Orbitz Worldwide, EVP at Leo Burnett, and Corporate VP of Strategic Global Branding for McDonald’s, where she was part of the leadership team that galvanized the brand’s turnaround. Prior to moving to Chicago, she contributed to building brands for a wide range of companies including Citibank, Chrysler, American Express, Exxon, Campbell Soup and Colgate-Palmolive.
Sean Moran – Director
Sean is currently a second year MBA student at the Kellogg School of Management. He grew up in the local area and has been involved in the Chicago community through organizations such as Generation Tech Mentors and Ladder Up. Professionally, Sean has spent his career consulting for ZS Associates in growth strategy and strategic marketing challenges across a wide range of industries. He received his BS in Engineering degree at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Bill Malczyk – Director
Management Team
Members of our Management Team oversee each functional area of the organization.
Calvin Hui – Co-President and Board Vice-Chair
Calvin enjoys his involvement with Minds Matter because the organization positively impacts the lives of Chicago students. Calvin graduated from Duke University with degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Economics. He works at DRW Trading Group, a proprietary trading firm, where he currently trades Agricultural products.
Tom Siebert – Co-President and National Board Representative
Tom has been with Minds Matter of Chicago for five years in a variety of roles. His favorite part of the organization is the measurable success of the students involved and the passion of Minds Matter’s dedicated volunteers. Tom graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and is currently pursuing his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Libby Peters – Vice President
Libby has volunteered with Minds Matter since 2009 as a mentor and as a team leader. She loves working with smart, motivated high school students who are dreaming big despite some challenging circumstances. Libby graduated from Yale University with a BA in Psychology, and received her JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. Libby is an employment and commercial litigation attorney at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP.
Aaron Brown – Co-Director of Senior Program
Aaron has been involved with Minds Matter since 2007 when he joined as a mentor in the New York chapter. He enjoys his involvement because he gets to work one-on-one with amazing students and help them realize their full potential. Aaron received his BA in economics from the University of Chicago and is currently pursuing his MBA at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant at The Cambridge Group.
Clara Tse – Co-Director of Senior Program
Clara Tse joined Minds Matter after learning about this organization from a friend who mentors at the New York chapter. She has served as both mentor and Alumni Director and is now Co-Director of the Senior Program. She graduated from Northwestern University and received her Master in Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She currently works at a healthcare consulting firm, specializing in revenue cycle improvement.
Jeffrey Dillon – Co-Director of Test Preparation
Jeffrey has been a volunteer with Minds Matter since our first year in 2006. He has served as a mentor as well as Co-Director of Test Prep. He has really enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know every student who has passed through our chapter given his role with test prep. A highlight for him is having the chance every week to show the students new ways to approach problems that have challenged them in the past and see their satisfaction when the concept clicks. Jeffrey graduated from Miami University where he majored in Business Statistics and received his JD from Loyola University Chicago. He currently works at HSBC.
Andrew Yeager – Co-Director of Test Preparation
Jennifer Henderson – Co-Director of Fundraising
Jennifer joined the Minds Matter management team in 2012 to advance the organization’s goal of providing greater educational opportunities to students in Chicago. She currently works at Frontenac Company, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Jennifer graduated from Middlebury College where she studied economics and mathematics.
Irem Mertol – Co-Director of Fundraising
Irem became a team leader in 2011 to establish stronger mentee-mentor relationships and help implement weekly writing and critical thinking lessons to help students achieve their dreams of attending college. She currently works at Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and graduated from Duke University where she studied Economics and Biomedical Engineering.
Adam Alexander – Co-Director of Fundraising
Adam became a mentor with Minds Matter in 2009 because it allowed him to work with students on improving invaluable academic skills. He studied Business and English at Dickinson College, and currently works in finance and strategy at CF Industries Holdings.
Jason Dehaemers – Co-Director of Finance
Jason joined Minds Matter in 2011 as a mentor and became Co-Director of Finance in early 2012. Jason is currently an associate at GTCR and was previously an analyst with Credit Suisse. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA, majoring in Finance and Economics.
Chris Matz – Co-Director of Mentees / Co-Director of Finance
Chris has been a volunteer with Minds Matter since 2010. He continues to serve as a mentor and has recently taken the position of Co-Director of Mentors and Co-Director of Finance. He is passionate about the mission of Minds Matter as well as the direct impact that the organization has on the students involved. A personal highlight for him is to see the students progress and develop academically as well as seeing their personalities develop and unfold week by week. Chris graduated from Northern Illinois University where he majored in Marketing. He currently works in commercial banking with MB Financial.
Kristen Siebert – Co-Director of Mentors
Laila Chen – Co-Director of Mentors
Laila joined Minds Matter in 2009 as a mentor. After seeing her mentee graduate high school and move onto college, Laila joined the executive board in 2012. Jason currently works in online marketing for Walgreens. She graduated from Northwestern University with a major in Political Science.
Liz Coffey – Co-Director of Public Relations
Liz joined the management team in 2013 after hearing some of the program’s success stories from a colleague. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame where she studied American Studies and Journalism, Ethics and Democracy and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Liz is currently a Senior Account Supervisor at Res Publica Group, a boutique public affairs firm in Chicago.
Jodie Cantrell – Co-Director of Public Relations
Lauren Cooney – Director of Marketing
Lauren is the Director of Marketing for Minds Matter. She joined the organization in 2013 because she wanted to get involved in the community and work with high school students. She currently works at Heitman, a real estate investment management firm, as an Associate in Client Service and Marketing. Lauren graduated from DePaul University in 2007 with a BA in Political Science and Journalism.
Justin Chiles – Director of Technology
Justin has been involved with Minds Matter since 2010 and is currently a mentor to a student in the Senior Program. One of his favorite aspects of Minds Matter is helping the mentees improve their writing skills. He received his BA in history from Princeton University and currently working for WyzAnt Tutoring, a startup that connects students with local tutors.
Kelly Smith – Director of Mentee Recruitment
Kelly has been involved with Minds Matter since 2011. She currently works at Riverside Publishing as a Test Development Specialist. She was a teacher in Philadelphia for four years before moving to Chicago last summer. Kelly grew up in sunny Venice, FL, graduated from Florida State University in 2007, and completed her graduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 2009.
Stephane Essama – Director of Mentees
I was born in West Africa and moved to Washington DC in middle school. A few short years later I had to navigate the confusing american college admissions process as I tried to find a way to pursue my academic goals. Thanks to the guidance and support of my family and several members of my community I was eventually offered the chance to attend my dream school. This was a life changing opportunity. Not only did college offer me an education, it also opened my eyes to an entirely new world of opportunities, ideas, and aspirations. I valued my college experience so much that I resolved to find ways to help other deserving students have the same opportunity. Upon graduation I moved to Chicago to pursue a career as a fixed income trader. Through a colleague I was introduced to Minds Matter and found that its mission fit exactly with my passion, I immediately signed up. Thanks to Minds Matter I have had the pleasure of assisting one mentee on his way to his dream school and working with dozens more students as a Director. I hope to continue working with minds matter for many years to come. I also like music, football, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Potbelly.
Bridgid Titley – Director of Summer Programs
Bridgid joined Minds Matter as a mentor in 2006 and served as Co-Director of the Sophomore and Junior Program for the past three years. She’s loved getting to know each and every student in Minds Matter and watching them gain confidence and achieve goals as a result of this program. Bridgid received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Evansville, currently works for Pritzker Realty Group, and is pursuing a Master’s in School Counseling at DePaul University.
Fundraising Team
The fundraising team consists of the Associate Board (fundraising oversight) and the Advisory Council (fundraising promotion).
| James Choi | Aaron Finley | Michael Yu | |
| Zach Grossman | Rosie Fischel | Rosemary Han | Nikhil Gupta |
| Sam Paulson | Sarah Jaszkowski | Yezi Peng | Yibai Li |
| Nicholas Petruska | Helen Mach | Allison Rothmeier | Kate Pettinator |
| Basima Tewfik | Christina Polenta | Anna Yang | Stephanie Werner |
Test Prep Volunteers
Dan Allen
Trisha Bakshi
Nihar Bhupalam
Kate Hui
Alyse Kowalick
Riya Penn
Betty Sharples
Sean Shiels
Emilie Syberg
Margaret Titley
Adrienne Yeager